Hank Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, and US Treasury Secretary during the 2008 Financial Crisis, is a serious fellow. So, when Mr. Paulson shows up in Washington DC and tells people that the US Treasury needs an emergency "break the glass" plan if market demand for US Treasury bonds collapses, maybe you should take it seriously. Read More ›
Governments sometimes get themselves into trouble with too much debt. Early economist Adam Smith devoted the last chapter of his famous Wealth of Nations (1776) to the topic of sovereign default. “The progress of the enormous debts which at present oppress, and will in the long-run probably ruin, all the great nations of Europe, has been pretty uniform,” Smith wrote. “The practice of funding [financing deficits with debt] has gradually enfeebled every state which has adopted it.” Read More ›
